After exhausting his eligibility and declaring for the 2026 NFL Draft, Arizona State edge rusher Clayton Smith made a last-ditch appeal to the NCAA for an extra year due to injuries from his redshirt freshman season. The NCAA granted him that extra year, and now Kenny Dillingham is making sure to squeeze out the most out of his 6’5″ and 255 lbs veteran edge rusher.
Clayton Smith joined Oklahoma in 2021 as an edge rusher and has played only that position in college, even after coming to ASU in 2023. So far, he has 81 tackles to his name along with 13 sacks. But he also has untapped potential as a wide receiver, a position he played in high school. Amid Jordyn Tyson entering the NFL draft, Smith is now taking snaps at both the WR and edge rusher positions.
“It’s been a dream come true. I’ve been dreaming about doing this since I was a kid,” Clayton Smith said on April 10. “Dillingham said he wanted me to go offense, learn the playbook just in case. And that’s what I did. It was fun, but I couldn’t stay too long. I didn’t wanna bite things off.
“It’s a really competitive receiver room, but I was great. It was a great opportunity to get closer to that side of the ball as well, and then come back and be able to relate to both sides of the ball.”
Clayton Smith is living a defensive lineman’s dream.
The 6-foot-4, 255-pound Sun Devil edge rusher has spent some significant time this spring practicing at wide receiver.
He may very well serve as a two-way weapon for ASU this fall.@claytonsmith_10 @FOX10Phoenix pic.twitter.com/vt44NWMJr6
— Blake Niemann (@Blakes_Take2) April 10, 2026
The start of the ongoing spring practice was a bit unusual for Smith. He started out by learning the offensive playbook and practicing with the receivers. He’ll return to practicing at his regular position for the remainder of the practice. Even if Dillingham utilizes him as a two-way player, we are unlikely to see a Travis Hunter-like return. However, Smith can still be impactful.
“I think he knows the offense enough that if we threw him in there in, like, small packages throughout the year, he would understand the vernacular enough that it wouldn’t be foreign to him,” Kenny Dillingham said about Clayton Smith’s dual-threat role. “But we need him back on the D-line. His edge on the D-line is something we need.”
His two-way potential isn’t new; as a high school senior, he was a menace on defense, logging 10 sacks and 20 TFLs, but also showed his offensive upside with 13 catches for 184 yards, proving he could impact both sides of the ball.
It’s not like Smith is a complete stranger to the WR position at ASU. In the 2024 season, Smith was the Sun Devils’ most important player, taking 589 snaps and starting all 14 games. He did record 33 TFLs and 4.5 sacks, but also recorded a 15-yard reception against Kansas. ASU won that game 35-31, and Smith also recorded 3 tackles and 1.5 TFLs, playing both ways. But can he do the same more consistently this year, game after game?
Can Kenny Dillingham incorporate Clayton Smith successfully as a two-way player?
Kenny Dillingham has a strong track record of experimenting with creative ideas. In the 2024 season, he used RB Cam Skattebo as both a running back and a prolific receiving threat. Because of Dillingham’s creative schemes, Skattebo notched 1,735 rushing yards along with 605 receiving yards. But Dillingham’s creativity wasn’t limited to using players in dual roles, and that will likely become a major factor in Smith’s success as a two-way player.
“You can truly see the vision he (Kenny Dillingham) had for this program in year one. You can see it coming to life here in year 4,” Clayton Smith said about his head coach. “Everything he preaches, little things, intensity. All that feeds into who we are today. We have a family culture. On our pro day, like scouts were saying, ‘that was the most energetic pro day they had seen.’ And that comes from building relationships and having a real family environment.”
The ASU head coach consistently incorporated trick plays, creative formations, pre-snap motions, and unbalanced lines in his offense. Many analysts praised Dillingham’s swinging-gate formation, unorthodox special teams usage, and gadget plays in short-yardage situations. He even used two heavy back sets and jet motion packages that confused defenses when talent was limited in 2024 and 2023. Considering Kenny Dillingham’s tendency to experiment, Smith will easily become a standout two-way player come the 2026 season.
